To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

ABKRDEBN PARKS: SANC'l'UARIES & SOCIAL CENTERS
In May, 1995 the Aberdeen Park &
Forestry Department publicists
focused on the theme "Flm in the Slm"
at eleven city parks: Aldrich,
Anderson, Brown, Frontier, Lincoln,
Manor, Melgaard, Nicollet, Prairie
Veterans Menorial, Slmshine and
Wylie. This booklet features three of
these parks in their fotmdation years
when the publicity theme would nore
appropriately be "Flm in the Shade".
"LET'S HAVE A PARK!"
In Aberdeen's first half century
images of inchvidual trees and groves
strongly embedded themselves in the
minds of prairie PeOple. In the quest
for greenness, coolness and shade
Aberdonians gradually constructed
urban parks and pleasure spots to
augment the few natural beauty spots
in the colmtryside. They sought
conmunion with nature in such manmade
parks where they might achieve a
relaxing solitude with self, friends
or family. They 'might also socialize
with rural neighbors &city dwellers.
Over the years varied age and
occupational groups gradually had the
option of visiting their neighborhood
or city parks in order to escape from
confined hot interiors and from the
routine of their everyday lives.
Recognizing the i.ntx>rtance of orderly
park development the state
legislature in 1909 authorized park
boards for the state's larger cities.
Mayor Alva Aldrich appointed
Aberdeen's first park board in 1909.
In pioneer days of the 1880s and
1890s Aberdeen was a city of open
places with few trees and no parks to
link and lessen the impact of open
spaces. As early as 1886 concerned
citizens urged parkland for Aberdeen.
One writer under the headine "Let's
Have a Park" stated that due to five
years of inaction and preoccupation
with other priorities Aberdeen lacked
park trees. He recommended buying
8
immediately a block or two in a
central location before land prices
rose and then plant trees. Under the
headline "That Park" another citizen
advocated that the vacant block
between 4th & 5th avenues and between
1st and 3nd streets be purchased
immediately for a centrally located
city park before land prices
skyrocketed. With the city's anp1e
water supply it would be possible to
have park fOlmtains, trees and a
miniature lake--an incentive for
securing an even larger park further
away from city center.
The reality of parks finally began
to take shape. On August 8, 1904
mayor Alva Aldrich addressed the city
colmcil on the need for a public city
park, which he described as a spot
for tree planting, "where the PeOple
in their rooments of relaxation can
enjoy the pleasures that can only be
obtained where treelessness is not
apparent, where shade abounds."
Ideological support of parks
increased. By 1913 the Daily News
headline of August 27 recognized
"Parks Essential to Growth of
Aberdeen". As trade territory
expanded so too must Aberdeen's
pleasure resorts. The city park board
requested $15,000 to maintain the
city park system with emerging
"beauty spots" that would be the envy
of Fargo and Grand Forks. The
editoral page asserted "No lJIrto-date
city can get along without an
adequate park system....The parks are
a city's breathing spots. They are as
essential as paved streets, street
railways & other lOOdern inl>rovements~
By year I send. 1914 the Daily News
headlines credited Aberdeen with 263
acres of parks worth over $50,000.
Park sizes were listed at 25 acres
for Melgaard, 2.06 acres for Aldrich
while Wylie Park emerged as the
largest with 160 acres and Wylie Park
lake &drives as 22.08 acres.

ABKRDEBN PARKS: SANC'l'UARIES & SOCIAL CENTERS
In May, 1995 the Aberdeen Park &
Forestry Department publicists
focused on the theme "Flm in the Slm"
at eleven city parks: Aldrich,
Anderson, Brown, Frontier, Lincoln,
Manor, Melgaard, Nicollet, Prairie
Veterans Menorial, Slmshine and
Wylie. This booklet features three of
these parks in their fotmdation years
when the publicity theme would nore
appropriately be "Flm in the Shade".
"LET'S HAVE A PARK!"
In Aberdeen's first half century
images of inchvidual trees and groves
strongly embedded themselves in the
minds of prairie PeOple. In the quest
for greenness, coolness and shade
Aberdonians gradually constructed
urban parks and pleasure spots to
augment the few natural beauty spots
in the colmtryside. They sought
conmunion with nature in such manmade
parks where they might achieve a
relaxing solitude with self, friends
or family. They 'might also socialize
with rural neighbors &city dwellers.
Over the years varied age and
occupational groups gradually had the
option of visiting their neighborhood
or city parks in order to escape from
confined hot interiors and from the
routine of their everyday lives.
Recognizing the i.ntx>rtance of orderly
park development the state
legislature in 1909 authorized park
boards for the state's larger cities.
Mayor Alva Aldrich appointed
Aberdeen's first park board in 1909.
In pioneer days of the 1880s and
1890s Aberdeen was a city of open
places with few trees and no parks to
link and lessen the impact of open
spaces. As early as 1886 concerned
citizens urged parkland for Aberdeen.
One writer under the headine "Let's
Have a Park" stated that due to five
years of inaction and preoccupation
with other priorities Aberdeen lacked
park trees. He recommended buying
8
immediately a block or two in a
central location before land prices
rose and then plant trees. Under the
headline "That Park" another citizen
advocated that the vacant block
between 4th & 5th avenues and between
1st and 3nd streets be purchased
immediately for a centrally located
city park before land prices
skyrocketed. With the city's anp1e
water supply it would be possible to
have park fOlmtains, trees and a
miniature lake--an incentive for
securing an even larger park further
away from city center.
The reality of parks finally began
to take shape. On August 8, 1904
mayor Alva Aldrich addressed the city
colmcil on the need for a public city
park, which he described as a spot
for tree planting, "where the PeOple
in their rooments of relaxation can
enjoy the pleasures that can only be
obtained where treelessness is not
apparent, where shade abounds."
Ideological support of parks
increased. By 1913 the Daily News
headline of August 27 recognized
"Parks Essential to Growth of
Aberdeen". As trade territory
expanded so too must Aberdeen's
pleasure resorts. The city park board
requested $15,000 to maintain the
city park system with emerging
"beauty spots" that would be the envy
of Fargo and Grand Forks. The
editoral page asserted "No lJIrto-date
city can get along without an
adequate park system....The parks are
a city's breathing spots. They are as
essential as paved streets, street
railways & other lOOdern inl>rovements~
By year I send. 1914 the Daily News
headlines credited Aberdeen with 263
acres of parks worth over $50,000.
Park sizes were listed at 25 acres
for Melgaard, 2.06 acres for Aldrich
while Wylie Park emerged as the
largest with 160 acres and Wylie Park
lake &drives as 22.08 acres.